The Wingham community showed it's support for the campaign to save the 112-year-old Station Master's Cottage with more than 100 people attending a public meeting at the Wingham Memorial Services Club on Sunday, February 20.
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Mave Richardson AM PSM chaired the meeting, with Bill Beach, the man heading the campaign, talking to the collected people to let them know where negotiations with Community Housing and Australian Rail Track Corporation (ARTC) are up to.
Mr Beach emphasised that no matter what ends up happening this project needs to be community driven and there is urgency about acting before the cottage deteriorates more.
Also speaking at the meeting were Margaret Clarke from Manning Valley Historical Society (MVHS), giving historical context to the cottage, and vice president of Wingham Chamber of Commerce, Kev Ellis VP who gave a short presentation on the condition of the cottage.
MidCoast Council was represented by general manager Adrian Panuccio and director of liveable communities Paul De Szell. All councillors were invited, with only Cr Alan Tickle attending.
The Wednesday before the meeting Community Housing Ltd (CHL) advised Mr Beach that they were wanting to relinquish the lease of the cottage from ARTC on February 28, 2022.
"While we expect our lease to come to an end soon, we look forward to working with ARTC and the community to realise the potential of the cottage moving forward," CHL state manager Megan Davison said.
"CHL is committed to working positively with ARTC and welcomes the involvement of the Save the Cottage committee and their hopes for the future.
"We understand there is a lot of good will in the community towards saving the cottage and as part of the community CHL is happy to be involved in supporting those ongoing activities.
Mr Beach said his aim was obtaining a lease similar the to the lease CHL had with ARTC.
"But there's a lot of hoops to go through," Mr Beach said.
However, despite support from the community and CHL, the community plans for the future of the cottage are at an impasse due to lack of communication with ARTC.
"All along with this thing has been a lack of lines of communication with ARTC," Mr Beach said.
"Up until now, despite repeated attempts to get someone from ARTC to answer our emails, all our dealings or information flowing from ARTC has come back via (Member for Lyne) Dr David Gillespie's office.
"We're still very much up in the air. Logically this whole thing should be a no-brainer. You would think there is no reason why ARTC wouldn't want to extend a similar lease to a community body. But that's easier said than done."
The Save the Cottage committee is now auspiced by the MVHS. Despite there still being no communication from ARTC, the committee is going ahead with obtaining estimates on the cost involved in restoring the cottage.
Keep up to date with the Save the Cottage campaign on the Support the Station Masters Cottage Wingham NSW Facebook page.
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